By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
The partisan gerrymandering frenzy underway in a number of Republican-controlled southern states threatens to decimate Black representation in Congress and state legislatures. The NAACP isn’t confining itself to conventional countermeasures in its response. Presumably, the civil-rights group will eventually sponsor voter-registration drives, public-education initiatives, and get-out-the-vote efforts. But right off the bat, the NAACP is going for the heart and the wallet of the white conservative Deep South, as the organization announced yesterday:
The “Out of Bounds” campaign focuses on one primary ask, calling on top football and basketball recruits currently being actively recruited by targeted programs to withhold their commitments until the states in question restore fair congressional maps and meaningful Black representation. The campaign also calls on current college athletes — including those who may already be enrolled at targeted programs — to consider their options, including the transfer portal, and to use their platforms and NIL [name-image-likeness compensation] reach to elevate fair maps and voting rights.
